From TEDx to Volunteering Globally to Blogging & Raising Two Kids, This Career Mama Inspires Us Daily

We’ve had a hard time getting out of our bunny slippers this morning but @raisingself is up and at ‘em and taking the world by storm. Samantha Sophia has nicknamed herself Random Sam for the plethora of passions she nurtures in her very full life. From a full time job as a risk and analytics manager for a global fortune 500 company in sunny So Cal, to committing to reading two books (or more!) a month, to volunteering with Bankers Without Borders, to raising her two children… oh and she runs two blogs, Sisterlocked.com and RaisingSelf.com. Feeling inspired to get yourself in gear? Read on…

What inspires you?

Possibility inspires me. The world is vast and time is finite. Thinking of my life as a journey and embracing the unknown activates me in so many ways.

What is your favorite quote?

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”, Helen Keller

On Life Lessons:

The thing I love about my marriage, career and overall life is the possibility. I’ve been kind of fluid and flexible about what success looks like and doing that has made room for so much unexpected opportunities and joy. I challenge myself to do some major thing out of my comfort zone every year. Going for a job I might not feel is in reach. Volunteering in some developing nation. Trying or going for something that kind of scares me and learning from the experience.

On Motherhood:

Becoming a mother fueled my creative and professional drive. I didn’t want to have regrets or use my children or marriage as an excuse for me not living fully and fearlessly. I was crazy enough to start a Master’s program while on maternity leave with my first child. I was entrepreneurial enough to quit my job and lead a startup while pregnant with my second child. I’m a reverse engineer and a planner, but I’ve never planned a pregnancy in my life. In the case of my 2nd, I was in such denial, that by the time I really found out I was pregnant; I came back the next week to find out the gender. My husband and I joke, planning a pregnancy is the one major thing we have yet try in our life that we are curious about. But the best thing that I never intended to happen was to have two back to back kids in my twenties.

What are 3 things that might surprise us about you?

I’m a huge nerd and bookworm, I read 2-4 books a month and I would love to write a science fiction novel.

I love storytelling, and volunteer with TEDx helping to frame the narrative for local TEDx talks.

Volunteering is a huge part of my life, I am a standing volunteer with Bankers Without Borders and I am passionate about poverty prevention domestically and internationally, I have done work in rural China and last year went to Mexico to learn more about sex-trafficking prevention.